I don't normally write about writing for this blog; it is about the garden and what goes into it and on with it. But today I saw something that reminded me of just how much the garden media system has changed (something we garden writers talk about a lot amongst ourselves). I am on my way up to New Hampshire to give a talk on organic lawn and landscape care.
I left Shepherdstown a couple of hours early so I could stop at nurseries along the way to BWI airport. I have some seeds I bought mail order (more about that at some other time as perhaps you can imagine, given my background) that I want to get started, but I am pretty picky about my potting soil. I like the professional mixes that we used to use when I had my own garden center, but just like it is hard to find any bottled water these days but Dasani and Aquafina (both of which are basically treated bilge water) it is hard to find a decent seedling mix.
Scotts in particular has such a lock on the market that 90% of the garden centers, feed stores and chains have three variants on the basic Scotts mix and that's it; take your choice: Bud, Bud Lite, or Mich Lite. So you can take Miracle Gro, Miracle Gro Premium, or Organic Choice. none of them have the weight to bulk ratio that you see in a good growing mix...they're all too dense and heavy (there is a seedling mix listed on the Scotts website, but none of them seem to carry it). Last year I managed to find some Pro-Mix but unfortunately I can't remember where and have been reduced back to trial and error.
Anyway, one of the garden centers I stopped at was in Frederick MD, and aside from some particularities I might comment on elsewhere, the thing I found most interesting was a magazine they were giving away at the checkout counter. It is called Washington Spaces (DC MD VA Guide to Luxury Living). I glanced through it over my burrito dinner at the airport. What struck me most of all (beyond "awards" article for landscapers -- probably the biggest adertiser base -- installing $100K - $300K and up jobs) was on the masthead pages, which as a writer and former contributing editor I compulsively check. There were actually two masthead pages, one for print and one for web...and that was thing that jumped out. For print there was the publisher, the editor, a writer and a couple of interns, one for writing, one for photography; but on the web masthead (in the print version, which I was reading) there was double or triple the staffing. There was the IT manager, the webmaster, a senior web developer, assistant web developer, web content person, etc., etc...it looked like the masthead of a magazine back in the heyday of print...and the print masthead looked like the web crew of 6-8 years ago.
I tried years ago to tell the editors I worked with (and my fellow writers) that it was headed this way, but nobody seemed to believe me (same with digital photography, and ecommerce) and now here we are...the new status quo, and so obvious (to the formerly oblivious) in 20-20 hindsight.
